Christopher Peltier, left, and Ron Clark rehearse a scene from 'The School for Scandal' on Tuesday at West High. / David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen photos

Written by

Alesha L. CrewsIowa City Press-Citizen

‘The School for Scandal’

• When: 8 p.m. June 21, 8 p.m. June 22, 7 p.m. June 23, 8 p.m. June 27, 8 p.m. June 29; 7 p.m. July 2, 7 p.m. July 5 and 7 p.m. July 7. • Where: West High. • Cost: $30 to $40 for adults, $24 to $32 for college students and seniors, and $18 for youth. • Information:www.riversidetheatre.org. • When: 7 p.m. June 25, 8 p.m. June 26, 8 p.m. June 28, 7 p.m. June 30, 8 p.m. July 3 and 8 p.m. July 6. • Where: West High. • Cost: $30 to $40 for adults, $24 to $32 for college students and seniors and $18 for youth. • Information:www.riversidetheatre.org.

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Watching a performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s “The School for Scandal” is like looking back in time and at a current-day tabloid simultaneously.

The play draws the audience into the 18th century world of gossip and extravagance, themes the play’s director Theodore Swetz said continue to be pillars of society today.

He said the play — which deals with devotion, backstabbing, hypocrisy, jealousy and true love — has universal appeal to people of all ages and reflects life in all eras.

“I’m looking at a play that was written a few hundred years ago and I’m seeing human nature in the same way I’m seeing in my own life,” Swetz said.

Swetz compares the world in the play — which opens at 7 p.m. Friday at West High and continues through July 7 — to current-day gossip magazines and tabloids.

“The scandalmongers are a group of people who live to gossip, they live to spread rumors about people and even make up rumors about people,” he said.

Like many shows written in the 18th century, the plot has many twists, turns and subplots playing out simultaneously, Swetz said. A portion of the play is devoted to a wealthy man from the city who is worried people will gossip about is recent marriage to a much younger girl from the countryside. Another portion is devoted to an uncle who goes to great lengths to access the true character of his nephews.

Swetz said the play celebrates the foibles and humanness in all of us.

“You’ll see the true nature of gossip,” Swetz said. “There is not one of us — of course it’s at different degrees — that hasn’t gossiped about something in our lives; Sometimes we feel really bad that we did, and at other times depending on the subject, felt really good that we did.”

Illinois-based actress Eliza Stoughton makes her Iowa City acting debut as Lady Teazle — the wealthy man’s young wife — in the production.

“(My character) is new to the city, new to money and doesn’t see eye-to-eye with her husband on spending his money,” Stoughton said. “She wants to spend all of his money and he doesn’t want that, at least not without some affection in return.”

Above all, she said, her character wants to impress her peers by becoming a “lady of fashion,” which is reflected in her exorbitant dresses and wigs.

“There characters are extravagant, ridiculous and bigger than life,” she said. “It is really brought to life in the costumes, everything is just too big and over the top.”

She said she was surprised at how much the play reflects the present day, noting that characters gossip and criticize fashion choices, weight, relationships and adultery.

“This play is so relevant now,” she said. “You go to any grocery store and you see all the tabloids and it’s all the same stuff that comes up in the play.”

Swetz said he hopes the play will make people laugh, which he said can help lift the burden of their everyday lives.

“A 10-year old isn’t thinking about problems at school at that moment, an 80-year old isn’t worrying about their high blood pressure,” he said. “... We live in an age and a complicated world and I think the theater, and especially comedy, is really a necessary thing.”

The play, which was originally scheduled to be performed on the City Park Festival Stage, was moved to the West High auditorium after flooding forced the park to close. Swetz said organizers found ways to reconfigure the auditorium to make the Riverside Theatre in the Park season — which also includes a production of “Hamlet” — work indoors.

“We had to think quickly,” he said. “... But that’s been a great challenge and great fun to be able to do.”

Swetz said he is thrilled Riverside is presenting an epic tragedy alongside “The School for Scandal.” He said that for the actors — who have roles in each of the plays — it’s like the Olympics of theater.

“The true event will really be the transformation of these actors,” he said.

Stoughton, who plays Ophelia in “Hamlet” in addition to her role in “The School for Scandal” said the experience has been really rewarding.

“It’s fun, really cathartic, but it can be tough sometimes,” Stoughton said. “ ‘The School for Scandal’ is such a relief from Hamlet because it’s just a lighter play.”